


photography

by sugarcone



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Cats, Dancing, Fluff, Food, M/M, Making Out, Mocking, Photography, Polyamory, cinema dates, mentioned seungbin, minho's kinda a problem child at first, minor angst?, teasing insults
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:40:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22036450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarcone/pseuds/sugarcone
Summary: Hyunjin just wanted to take a picture of the scenery, when two tourist had decided to walk straight in front of his shot. Little did he know, that these strangers were about to turn his whole life upside down.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 146





	photography

**Author's Note:**

> this has been a work in progress for so long and i'm so glad i finally am done with it, it's not the best, but i hope you still somewhat like it i guess? <3
> 
> also huge thanks to jodi & alina who helped me edit the first part!! ♡

A tree stood tall in front of a continuously flowing river, twigs bending in all directions with their petals beginning to bloom. It was the kind of scenery Hyunjin loved to gaze at and also felt the need to capture. A gust of air ruffled his hair, taking some of the petals he was admiring with it and making them dance softly through the air. 

It was the perfect moment to freeze in time with the click of a button. But it was also the same moment, two tourists choose to move into the view of his camera. They, too, were looking at the scenery in astonishment. He didn’t know whether they did it on purpose or not, but he couldn’t help feeling bitter about it.

It would have been the perfect shot _— could have been._

He sighed. There was no use dwelling on it anymore.

He still lifted the camera to take a look at the ruined shot. As his eyes fell on it, his previous frown eased. His jaw dropped and a glimmer entered his eyes. 

He was still slightly petty over the strangers supposedly ruining his shot, but couldn’t bother actually complaining, not after _this_ had come out of it. 

Sunshine was gently shining onto the shoulders of the two strangers. The smaller one’s blonde hair had a glow to it that made it seem as if he was the sun itself, while the taller one’s soft blue hair was almost black under the direct sunlight. 

Hyunjin’s camera almost fell from his grasp as his hands trembled. As much as he wanted to refuse it, he had to admit the shot had turned out better than he could have ever imagined.

To say that Hyunjin was captivated was an understatement. He stood staring at the picture, his gaze filled with love and adoration. There was something about it, so enchanting, with a sense of nostalgia to it as well.

Subconsciously Hyunjin’s attention left his camera and fell on the two men in front of him. 

He had a good view of their side profiles. They were smiling brightly at each other, smiles so warm that they fit perfectly with the appeal of the scenery surrounding them. 

Something in Hyunjin clicked at the sight they made. Maybe it was the urge to capture another beautiful shot, or maybe it was simply the display of the familiarity between the two in front of him.

Without being fully aware of what he was doing, he adjusted his lense to focus onto the two of them and moved his index finger to the shutter button before pressing it. 

Lowering the camera he looked down at the photo he just took, and his heart skipped a beat.

The blonde haired boy’s smile was enchanting. His eyes looked like they had the whole universe in them. The corner of his lips was turning upwards and his teeth were clearly displaying a bright smile.

His cheeks looked soft with a soft shade of red plastered onto them. Hyunjin’s eyes were glued to him, unable to look away for even a split second.

His gaze slowly wandered off to the boy next to him. 

He had a smile that made Hyunjin’s heart flutter in the best way possible with eyes that shone all too brightly, and thin yet perfectly shaped lips. His smile was addicting, almost like a drug running through Hyunjin’s veins. He didn’t know this person, yet he couldn’t stop smiling like a complete utter idiot simply at the sight of his smile. 

Did he feel stupid? Yes, maybe. 

He came here to take pictures of the scenery, yet he felt so attracted to some mere strangers he had never seen before, but could you blame him when both of them looked like _that?_

Hyunjin didn’t notice that his jaw was gaping open, and neither did he realize that the strangers attention were now focused upon him. 

No matter how many times Hyunjin went back and forth between the two photos he’d taken, he couldn’t figure out what it was that had drawn him in. 

Maybe it was the fact that these strangers were extraordinarily pretty, but then again, Hyunjin was never one to judge people simply by appearance.

When he finally raised his gaze from the small screen, he was met with two beautiful pairs of eyes, the ones he had been admiring on his screen just a few seconds ago. 

The smaller one had his head slightly tilted, his brown eyes staring directly into Hyunjin’s. 

The other one had his brows furrowed, the annoyance in his eyes clearly distinguishable. 

A small but apologetic smile made its way onto Hyunjin’s face shortly before he walked a few steps backwards.

This was way too awkward. Not only had he taken pictures of them without even asking for their permission, no, he’d also gotten caught by them. 

The blue-haired man was clearly distraught as he walked up to Hyunjin, not hesitating, to grab him by the collar. 

“Are you taking pictures of us?” he growled as his grip on Hyunjin tightened even more, his face inching closer to Hyunjin’s. 

Hyunjin was in utter shock.

He simply placed a hand upon the other’s on his collar. Hyunjin was struggling to get words out of his mouth, his heart was beating faster despite the situation he was in. 

“No... I-” 

The second man quickly grabbed the blue haired man’s arm. He pulled his friend back, so his grip on Hyunjin would loosen. 

“Minho, you can’t just attack strangers!” 

Minho just scoffed at him, his eyes filled with disbelief. 

“But Jisung, he was taking pictures of us, you saw it too, right?” 

“Well yeah, but there’s always a better option than violence.” 

Hyunjin silently watched the conversation between the two of them unfold while he was fixing his shirt up. 

If the situation were reversed, he would have probably reacted in a similar way, so he really couldn’t blame Minho. He sighed a little, thinking about a possible solution on how to fix this situation or more likely, about how to get _out_ of this situation. After all, he was the one that messed up, not them. 

Hyunjin took yet another breath. He would have lied if he said they didn’t look good the way they were invested in their own conversation, but sadly he had to interrupt them for the sake of being able to get away as fast as possible. 

“Uhm... I hate to interrupt, but,” he started, drawing their attention towards him. 

Hyunjin smiled a little awkwardly. He wasn’t particularly fond of being the centre of attention, never had been. 

“I’m sorry about that. It looked like it would be a beautiful shot so I just took it. I’ll delete them and make it up to you somehow, if that’s what you want..” 

The two men — _Minho and Jisung —_ exchanged a few glances, seeming to have a silent conversation before Jisung finally spoke up.

“You don’t need to delete it, but you could do us a favor instead.” 

[♡]

Remember how Hyunjin had wanted to get away from them as fast as possible? Yeah, so that didn’t work out. 

In first place, it had been Hyunjin’s own fault, as he had offered to make it up to them and Jisung had simply taken the chance of asking him for a favor. So yeah, here he was guiding them around the city. 

Minho and Jisung were stopping every few minutes, taking pictures with their phones to Hyunjin’s displeasure. For Hyunjin, phone camera’s were trash, no matter if they have gotten a lot better or not. Maybe it was because he had gotten spoiled ever since he got his own professional camera, only ever using his phone’s camera for self-portraits. 

Whenever the two had stopped to take pictures, he couldn’t help himself but huff out a small sigh. 

After an hour of Hyunjin showing them around as much as possible, Jisung’s stomach had begun to growl. Minho snickered at the sound and proceeded to tease him with the way he had been looking at him.

Jisung felt his face burn, his lips jutted out in a small pout, which Hyunjin couldn’t help but find to be extremely adorable — not that he would admit it.

Maybe this was his chance to get away from them since they had gotten hungry, or so Hyunjin thought, unknowing that he wasn’t going to be able to get out of this situation so easily. 

Despite Hyunjin not expecting it in the slightest, Minho turned towards Hyunjin, staring right into his eyes. The furious look he wore not too long ago, had instead softened into a warm and gentle one.

“Hey, Can we go somewhere to eat, if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother?” he said, his eyes practically pleading Hyunjin. 

Hyunjin took a deep breath before exhaling a small sigh. He already knew he wouldn’t be able to resist them, not when they looked at him with eyes resembling those of small helpless puppies.

“Sure, no problem. Any specific wishes on what you want to eat?” 

[♡]

Originally the plan had been to simply get them to a rather cheap restaurant and then sneak away, but here he was, sitting opposite the two men that seemed all too comfortable with each other — _almost like a couple._

At the time, Hyunjin didn't know why that mindset had bothered him as much as it did, but what he knew was that he was curious if they actually were _a thing._

He had been quite nosy for someone that only knew them for a few hours, something that was unusual for Hyunjin. Hyunjin couldn’t quite place what it was, but something about them made him curious, made him want to find out more, keeping his attention solely stuck to them. 

Despite how much he had wanted to get away from them, from this whole situation, in a way he also was contented that they wouldn’t let him. Because like that he at least got to spend a little more time together with them.

As soon as Minho had stood up to refill his and Jisung’s plate with the variety of the food from the buffet, Hyunjin’s curiosity overtook him. He took a deep breath before deciding to take advantage of the situation and actually ask Jisung, whom he found to be the more approachable one, about it. 

Hyunjin’s gaze focused on Jisung now, looking him right in the eye. 

“Hey, Could I ask you a question?” he softly whispered, nearly loud enough for Jisung to make out. Hyunjin took a quick glance to Minho, who seemed to struggle on actually picking out what to take, before averting his gaze back to Jisung. 

Jisung only sipped on his glass of water, smiling warmly and bright at Hyunjin, a smile that gave Hyunjin a feeling of home, even though they had only just met.

“Sure. Go ahead.” 

Hyunjin took a short glimpse of Minho, making sure he was still occupied and far away from their table, before letting his eyes wander back towards Jisung, his attention solely on him now.

“Are you and Minho...?” 

Jisung studied Hyunjin’s eyes for what felt like an eternity to Hyunjin, before he started to laugh. For Hyunjin, it was probably his new favourite sound, a laugh equaling to the sun going up in the morning.

“A couple? You’re not the first one to ask this, but we actually aren’t.” 

A small nod was all that Jisung had gotten in response from him. Hyunjin on the other hand, had been trying his best to suppress the smile threatening to creep onto his face. 

“I see.” 

Jisung only huffed out a short sigh, his gaze now on Minho. A smile was making its way onto his face, his eyes having a somewhat loving and adoring feeling hidden in them.

“Although, I wouldn’t mind becoming a thing for real with him. You know?” 

That was enough to send a sharp shot of pain through Hyunjin’s heart, it wasn’t something Hyunjin was dying to know for. 

But he simply smiled it off, watching the boy sitting opposite him, before following his gaze which lead him to Minho.

Hyunjin only sighed in defeat.

“You should try to establish a relationship with him then. I don’t know you two well, we only met today after all, but for me — a total stranger, it seems like you two get along well and are even more than that.” he paused for a second, taking the chance to take a short breath and looking back over to Minho again. “And the way he looks at you, is that of someone being in love.” 

Jisung’s jaw fell, his eyes widened in shock and his cheeks now a soft shade of red. The last thing he would have had expected, was for Hyunjin to encourage him into dating Minho.

“O-Oh...” he stuttered out, before a suffocating silence started surrounding the two. 

Minho just eyed the two men one after another. Giant red question marks jumped around over his head, as if this was some kind of video game. He clearly didn’t understand what was going on between the two as he had just left them for a few minutes. 

Hyunjin couldn’t blame him.

For a few more minutes, the awkward silence remained, only the laughter and conversations of others ringing through the air from time to time.

Minho growled, not being able to take it anymore, playing around with the food on his plate. 

“What’s wrong with you both?” 

“Nothing.” the two of them said in unison, almost as if they knew exactly what the other had wanted to say.

Minho’s eyes were filled with suspicion and disbelief as he looked them in the eye. A long sigh slipping from his lips soon after.

“Is that so? That’s good then, I suppose.” he said, eyes fixed back down onto his plate. Jisung and Hyunjin however knew better, knew that he didn’t actually buy it. 

In a way it was good. Not exactly the best solution, but they were mere strangers to each other. And frankly speaking, Hyunjin wouldn’t ever see them again after this day either. And that was for the best, for all of them.

Although the thought of not being able to see Jisung and even Minho ever again, still caused his heart to ache in pain. 

He got way too attached to mere strangers — to people he didn’t know and only talked to for a few hours. He didn’t know what it was, but something about them made him feel as if this was where he belongs to, a feeling he thought he had lost a long time ago.

This whole situation had only happened because he couldn’t stop himself from pressing the shutter button of his camera in first place.

If he regretted it? He couldn’t tell. 

Hyunjin continued to silently chew on his food, the awkward silence now mixed with displeasing stares from Minho towards both Hyunjin and Jisung.

He tried his best to not give it too much thought, after all, he would be completely out of their lives soon.

Once Hyunjin had finished his food, he took a quick look at the two sitting opposite of him, the two that were exchanging smiles towards each other every now and then. Hyunjin smiled softly, before huffing out a sigh. This wasn’t his place and he didn’t want to disturb them any longer either, not when they looked _this_ in love. 

After giving it a bit of thought, he sent them a small, reassuring and somewhat sorry smile, before standing up. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ll be able to show you around some more, as it has already gotten late so I’m taking my leave now. Sorry for the inconvenience i caused once more and goodnight.” 

Hyunjin smiled at them once more, before taking a few steps towards the door, his heart aching more with each step he took. He knew that bittersweet encounter would have to come to an end now. 

He would have lied if he said that he wasn't waiting for one of them to call out to him, to ask him for his contact information.

But these kinda things only ever happen in fanfictions.

Or so he thought, before Jisung had pulled him back. 

Jisung nervously fumbled with his sweatshirt, smiling shyly at Hyunjin. 

“Hyunjin, could we.. perhaps exchange phone numbers?” 

It had taken a lot of Jisung’s courage to ask Hyunjin this, even more so clearly when he got flustered and averted his gaze down to his feet as soon after he had asked him.

Hyunjin had prayed that him being in a daze didn’t show. In fact however, it was as clear as the night sky. His jaw was dropped open and his eyes widened. He hadn’t expected for anyone to actually run after him, for him, it was only a dream, something that only ever happens in books.

And this wasn’t a book.

Yet here he was, unable to move and silently staring Jisung down, who only started to panic and embarrassedly started to wave his hands quickly in front of his face.

“Ah.. You don’t have to of course. I just thought maybe we could like.. hang out more often and even become friends? Sorry I’m probably being too clingy, am i not-” 

Hyunjin couldn’t help himself but let a small giggle out. How was he supposed to decline when Jisung was being _this_ cute?

And maybe, just maybe he had wanted for this to happen.

While Jisung only looked at him in confusion, Hyunjin held out his hand to him and gave him a kind and reassuring smile.

“Give me your phone, I'm going to save my number in it.” 

Jisung’s eyes immediately lit up, as he laid his phone into the palm of Hyunjin’s hand. At first Hyunjin didn’t even notice because of how invested he was into Jisung’s eyes.

Jisung’s bright smile slowly turned into a more awkward one, as Hyunjin was still intensely staring at him.

“Uhm.. Hyunjin?” 

Hyunjin had only realized how much he was staring at him after Jisung had pulled him out of his thoughts, quickly shaking his head lightly, before finally looking down at the phone in his hand. He hurriedly opened Jisung’s contacts and typed his phone number in.

“Here. Write me later so that I have your number as well, yeah?” 

The two of them exchanged some quick glances, before Jisung gave him a small nod in agreement. Hyunjin only smiled softly back at him, before turning around and taking his leave, clenching his shirt around his heart area tightly as soon as he had been out of the door. 

This whole situation wasn’t doing any good for him. Was he as stupid as those people in dramas, falling for a mere stranger?

No, this could only happen in dramas after all. Not in real life.

...Right?

[♡]

Jisung sighed, letting a hand ruff through his hair as he walked back to their table.

Minho’s eyes were now on him, a small chuckle coming from him as he pulled on Jisung’s cheeks as soon as Jisung plopped back down onto the chair next to his own.

“Tired already?” he said, a teasing tone hidden in it.

Jisung only frowned at him, his gaze on Minho now. 

“Minho. I don’t think he remembers us.” he growled out, his left leg bouncing up and down.

Minho just chuckled at him, leaning himself back into his chair. 

“To be honest, it’s not that surprising. It’s been ten years, sungie.” 

Jisung's frown only deepened at Minho's words, the frustration you could clearly see by now, rising with each passing second. 

“I know. But still!” Jisung whined, letting himself fall to the side, his head now on Minho's shoulder. 

“Jisung. What did you expect?” he said, as he gently let his hand run through Jisung's hair, massaging the top of his head a little. 

“Anything but that! Does he remember nothing at all?” 

“As I was saying, It’s been **_ten_ ** years, Jisung.” Minho sighed, placing a small kiss on the top of his head. "I'm sorry. I understand you're upset, but sungie.." 

Jisung sighed, resting one of his arms above his eyes, sight going black. It wasn't like he didn't expect it, but rather that he didn't want to admit it. He wanted to keep on believing that Hyunjin didn't forget everything. They were kids, he knew that, but they also were best friends, constantly at each other's side, until Minho and he had to move away, leaving Hyunjin all alone. 

It had been terrible, hard on the three of them as well. For Jisung, there hadn't been a single day on which he didn't think about Hyunjin. 

But now?

Now that he — that _they_ had returned, Hyunjin didn't remember a single thing and most importantly, he didn't remember them. 

Jisung couldn’t say that it didn’t faze him in the slightest, but he had expected this to happen, even if he’d hoped that it wasn’t true, hoped that he wasn’t the only one clinging onto the past.

This probably was exactly what Minho had warned him about, once they had first arrived at the airport.

Jisung was aware that even bumping into Hyunjin back there was lucky enough, especially since they didn’t knew where to start or had any clues whatsoever about his whereabouts. 

Maybe that also was the reason why Jisung had thought that fate was on their side for sure, that everything would be alright.

What he however didn’t consider was that even fate likes to play its own games, and those games are never fair. 

Jisung tried his best to suppress the tears from falling, to prevent himself from crying in a public place or even to prevent himself from appearing weak. In a way, he even felt stupid because it felt as if he was the only one still clinging onto the past, still refusing to let it go.

Minho let out a short whine, before letting his hand slide from his head down to his back, gently rubbing it in an attempt to distract him.

“Did he ask if we are dating?” Jisung only sighed, sitting himself back up and rubbing the corners of his eyes. “..Yeah, I said we aren’t.”

Minho only pouted at him. “True. But only because you wanted to wait for him though.”

“Oh shut up, why don’t you. You act as if you are any different.” Jisung hissed out, lightly hitting Minho’s arm. 

A small smile was now plastered onto Minho’s face. 

“I am. You know how Hyunjin was.. naive, a child, not that we weren’t, but.. you don’t even know if he is.. you know.. like us.”

“Gay, you mean.” Jisung blurted out blatantly. Minho tries his best to keep the chuckle that threatened to break out in, not that he succeeded with it. “Yeah, gay.” 

Jisung only smiled softly at Minho, before leaning his head against his hand. 

“Mhm.. You’re right though. Then again, who knows if he won’t just simply delete my number?” he said, a short sigh following soon after. 

Minho just stared at Jisung’s side profile for a moment, taking the view of the boy he was in love with in, before letting out a frown. 

“Jisung. Did you see the way he looked at you? He was **_jealous of me._ ** ” ****

Jisung only jumped at those words, turning his head over to Minho now. 

“What are you talking about? No way.” he squealed, his hands now going to both sides of his faces, cupping his cheeks. 

Minho clearly was getting more frustrated as time passed, even to a point where he scrunched his nose at Jisung’s constant denial.

“Jisung. I know what it looks like when you are in love. I told you this countless of times, **I love you.** And honestly speaking, I couldn’t care less whether we do this with or without him. I’m not in love with him, I’m in love with **you**.” 

For a moment, Jisung was uncertain as to what to say. He knew that Minho loved him, better than anyone else, especially since Minho never failed in showing him. But yet, he couldn’t forget the promise between the three of them. A simple promise made by naive children, yet it meant the whole world to him. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t love Minho, not at all, but rather that he was in love with the two of them. No matter how many time had passed, he was still in love with Hwang Hyunjin. 

Maybe it wasn’t fair to Minho, Jisung was aware and he couldn’t say he didn’t feel bad about it either, but him being as stubborn as he is, he refused to do this alone. He wanted it to be three of them, without forgetting anyone. 

“I know and you also know how I am. I just want it to be the three of us. Together.” 

For a moment all there was, was excrucificating silence, until Minho’s sigh broke it apart.

“Yeah, I know that. As much as it frustrates me, I wait for you.” he said. Jisung only smiled warmly at him, giving him a short peck on the cheek. “Thank you.”

[♡] _ten years ago_

Three Children running hand in hand around the playground, the air filled with giggles and screams every now and then, that was how Jisung, Minho and Hyunjin had spent their childhood. At least, until Jisung’s family had decided to move to New York from one day to the next.

Even though Jisung was only a child back then, he didn’t agree with it, even tried to protest against it, not that a mere child could do anything about it. 

Minho and Hyunjin had been devastated when Jisung had told him. While Minho only looked down at the floor, fiddling around with his fingers and tried his best not to cry, Hyunjin’s eyes started to swell up with tears, which soon fell down from his face.

Jisung still knew how much he and Minho had panicked back then. Hyunjin always had been a crybaby. 

For him, it must have been the hardest, especially since Hyunjin only had them. 

The day after those shocking news, was probably the whole reason why he had been so determined to make Hyunjin remember. 

The three of them had once again played around, until Hyunjin stopped all of a sudden and grabbed both their hands, in one of his hands holding Jisung’s, in the other one Minho’s.

Once he had let go of them, both of them had a simple three-leafed clover bracelet in their palm, Hyunjin already wearing his own on one of his wrists. 

A small sob escaped his lips, before he had looked up at them, looking them straight in the eye. 

“We all have the same one.” he started, carefully looking at the two children standing opposite of him, tears rolling down his cheeks. “So Jisungie.. when you come back, let’s meet again and stay together. I couldn’t find one with four-leaves, but mom told me that even so, three-leafed clovers still symbolize faith, hope and love. Even if the luck part of it is missing, i’m sure we’ll find each other again.” 

Hyunjin quickly rubbed the corners of his eyes with his pullover, a muffled sob coming out of his mouth. “Please don’t forget me..” 

Jisung had always felt the urge to protect him, to protect his smile. And seeing how helpless he was in that specific moment, made him feel horrible. “I won’t. I promise.” 

Jisung had wished he didn’t need to move away, that he could always stay at his side, but sadly fate had other plans for them. Not even two weeks later, he had been forced to move. 

Months later, Minho had moved to New York because of his father’s new job as well. A lucky coincidence for them, because the two got to contact each other and meet again. 

For Hyunjin however, the whole world broke down. He was all alone now, his two best friends he thought he would always be together with now gone.

[♡]

While Jisung had been thinking about that exact memory he treasured all too much, Hyunjin was walking down the streets towards his small apartment, all the while his hands being buried in the pockets of his jacket. 

His left hand kept on fiddling around with something inside his pocket, with his own bracelet to be exact. He often had thought it was stupid to still keep it, especially since it came from a silly child promise. He didn’t even knew if his other so-called friend still kept it and didn’t forget about it, he couldn’t even clearly remember their faces after all. 

For Hyunjin the time he had spent with them, was one of his most treasured memories, yet it was also one of the most painful ones. After all, both of them had left him alone, hadn’t even bothered writing or phone calling him. 

In the end, he’d spent almost the entirety of his childhood completely alone, without any friends.

For everyone else, Hyunjin had been a simple crybaby no one wanted to be friends with, someone who even managed to make his best friends abandon him.

Thinking back about it, Hyunjin couldn’t help himself but let a small sigh escape his lips. He still remembered how betrayed he’d felt and how hurt he had been. But on the other hand, it was also the reason he’d grown up stronger than he was as a child.

Considering the circumstances, it might haven’t been the best outcome, but it got him where he was now, and that was something. 

After having walked for about an half hour, he arrived at his small apartment complex and unlocked his door. 

He stepped inside, got out of his shoes and hung his jacket up, taking the bracelet out of it soon after. Hyunjin had taken a quick peek of himself in the mirror, before walking over to his bedroom and letting himself fall down onto his king sized bed. 

For a moment he kept on staring into the empty while ceiling, his attention quickly switching to his bracelet though. 

Even though he had kept the bracelet, he didn’t remember their faces very well, he even only remembered one of their names, the other having completely slipped out of his mind. 

Maybe it was because it had been too long or maybe it was the fact that he hit his head while being clumsy all too many times. 

**Jisung.**

That was the only name he remembered, one of the only things he remembered about his childhood. 

And today he had met another ‘Jisung’. 

When Jisung had first introduced himself and Hyunjin had first heard his name, he’d questioned whether it was him or not, however he quickly pushed that thought aside. After all, fate had never before been on his side and finding _his_ Jisung under the countless ones living, was going to be quite difficult and wasn’t going to happen this easily. 

Hyunjin exhaled another short sigh, put the bracelet aside and looked at his phone screen for a few minutes. Honestly, he wasn’t sure as to why he gave a mere stranger his number, but something about it, just felt right.

There was no use in debating it now, not after it had already been done.

He ruffed through his hair once, got up and walked into the bathroom to take a shower and go to bed afterwards.

[♡]

The next morning Hyunjin had been awoken by the sound of his phone going off nearly every two seconds. He let out a small groan before sitting himself up and rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

Hyunjin growled, taking his phone and looking at the screen which was filled with countless of his best friend, Seungmin. 

**seungmin: HWANG HYUNJIN**

**seungmin: where ARE YOU**

**seungmin: is this a joke**

**seungmin: you have a fucking shift get your ass over here**

**seungmin: I have a date with changbin!!**

**seungmin: oh my god I can't leave until you are here**

**seungmin: if i’m late to my fucking date i swear to god**

**seungmin: hyunjin, you are fucking 15 minutes late already**

Hyunjin cursed under his breath, his head was aching and he really didn’t feel like going to work, but he also was aware of the fact that if he just didn’t show up or if he even called in sick, Seungmin would beat his ass. 

A sighed slipped past his lips as he got himself dressed, quickly typing a message back to him while doing so.

**hyunjin: chill, i slept in. omw.**

Hyunjin quickly shoved some food and a bottle of water in his backpack, put his shoes on and went on his way, when another notification — another message from Seungmin, popped up. 

**seungmin: chill??? don’t test your luck, hwang hyunjin.**

**hyunjin: wahh. scary.**

**seungmin: you better be here in a few minutes or i’m gonna hunt you down, watch me.**

**hyunjin: yes yes.**

[♡]

Once Hyunjin had arrived at the small flower store he worked at, Seungmin practically glared him down, a small scoff coming from the slightly smaller man. 

Hyunjin was more than aware that Seungmin was ready to fight him right here in this exact moment, not even caring the slightest that customers could come in at any moment.

“Haha, Sorry, Minnie.” Hyunjin said, trying to laugh it off with a small chuckle. 

Seungmin scrunched his nose up at him and hit Hyunjin’s arm lightly, before taking his bag and walking towards the door, turning around a last time to look at him. “I’m so going to beat you up next time. This is a promise.” 

Hyunjin simply chuckled at him and before he could even answer him, Seungmin had already disappeared out of the door, probably being on his way to Changbin now.

While Hyunjin had changed into his work clothes, his phone notification went off yet another time, he growled in frustration, thinking it was Seungmin again, but instead was met with a message of an unknown number. He hesitated for a second before gathering the courage to open it.

**+82 XXX XXX XXX: Hello? Is this Hyunjin’s number? It’s Jisung.**

Upon reading it, he almost choked on his own spit. He had completely forgotten the fact that he had given Jisung his phone number the day before. Hyunjin hesitated once again, unsure whether to send a reply or not.

**hyunjin: yeah, that’s me.**

Maybe he had seemed more indifferent than he had intended to, but he didn’t particularly care, after all, it was not like he’d ask him to meet up. 

He sighed softly, taking a small sip of his water. 

**jisung: ah, i’m glad! I was worried you wouldn’t reply.. maybe it was a bit too pushy from me after all.**

**jisung: hey, if you don’t mind, do you think we could maybe meet up?**

Hyunjin almost choked on his water once he’d read the new message from Jisung, coughing heavily as he walked to the counter to wait for any possible customers. 

He’d slowly begun to wonder if he was actually living a real-life fiction, with all the coincidences that had occurred so far. 

**hyunjin: i don’t think that will work. i have to work.**

**jisung: oh.. well nothing we can do then..**

**hyunjin: sorry.**

As soon as Hyunjin had put his phone down onto the counter in front of him, a sigh escaped his lips. He hadn’t expected Jisung to actually contact him, not in the slightest. Sure, he had hoped for it to happen, but Jisung — a mere stranger, even wanting to meet him? It was almost strange how well things were going. 

Because of how focused he was onto his phone, he had completely overheard the sound of the door opening, a small ringing sound echoing through the store as it did. 

He had been completely lost in thoughts, until a familiar voice had snapped him out of it.

“Hyunjin? Is that you?” 

Hyunjin raised his eyes at him and gasped in astonishment.

His eyes met those he had captured on his camera just the day before. 

Jisung looked at Hyunjin in a daze, going up to the counter Hyunjin was standing behind.

“So this is what you meant when you were working? I didn’t expect that.” he said, a grin now spreading on his face. 

Hyunjin sent him a small awkward smile, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Well yeah. I didn’t expect to see you this soon again either.” his voice had gradually gotten more quiet, unsure whether he should really say what he was about to say or not. “or that you would even text me to be honest.” 

Hyunjin could practically feel the stares of Jisung piercing through him, to be quite frankly, it made him uncomfortable, unsure of what to say, especially so after what he had spitted out. 

All he got from Jisung in return was a chuckle, to Hyunjin’s confusion. 

Hyunjin kept on fiddling around with his fingers, until he finally gathered his courage and looked back up at him, a smile widely spread across the younger’s face.

“You’re so cute, Hyunjin.” 

For Hyunjin those few words had been like a sweet toxin, something that had drawn him in and something he wanted more of, no matter the consequences and no matter how dangerous it could get. 

Jisung seemed to be quite amused by his reaction, a smug on his face. He was glad that Hyunjin was still the same guy he had known as a child, in one way or another. Just a slightly bit more mature and less of a crybaby.

Hyunjin who had been trying his best in hiding the flustered expression threatening to creep onto his face, simply turned his gaze away from Jisung. It had been the same feeling he had felt before, something had drawn him in about Jisung, but he couldn’t figure out what it was, no matter how hard he thought about it. 

Jisung placed a small bouquet of roses onto the counter in front of him, pulling Hyunjin out of his thoughts once again.

“Anyway. Maybe we could go out for a cup of tea sometime?” 

“Sure.” Hyunjin huffed out, his eyes still focusing on the bouquet in front of him, not having had expected for Jisung to actually buy some flowers. 

Jisung grinned almost immediately and paid for the bouquet, telling Hyunjin to keep the change, before he walked over to the door, turned around and waved. “Cool. I write you then, Jinnie.” 

Hyunjin’s jaw dropped a bit at the familiar nickname, a nickname Hyunjin used to be quite fond of, especially, because his two most important friends used to call him that back then. 

Those two friends being the exact same ones from his childhood. Hyunjin simply had watched Jisung disappear through the door in awe, the younger had held the bouquet firmly in his hands and even though Hyunjin wasn’t even certain of him being _‘his’_ Jisung, tears threatened to swell up in Hyunjin’s eyes.

It couldn’t be, this couldn’t be _his_ Jisung. But yet, his back profile looked so much like the one he was way too familiar with, just that it was more matured. The resemblance however, was still there. Hyunjin knew that all too well. 

Hyunjin exhaled a deep sigh, as his fingers fumbled around with his bracelet. It couldn’t be, no way it could. 

[♡]

Jisung had been wearing that bright smile of his when he’d first opened the door to both his and Minho’s hotel room, where they were staying at until they found an apartment. 

The two of them had agreed on moving back here, although it was mostly Jisung’s decision, this place was still filled with precious memories for the two of them. 

They were old enough by now as well, so why not, was what they thought — or more likely, what Jisung thought. 

Jisung threw the keycard aside, to somewhere he had hoped he would find it again — or simply ask Minho for his again. He took his jacket off and walked into the bedroom where Minho had been currently comfortably sitting on the bed, watching some series that were running in the tv. 

Jisung smiled fondly as he watched Minho, soon after throwing himself onto the bed, slumping down next to him and snuggling into his side. 

“Min. You know who I met? Hyunjin.. He was-” he took a quick glance towards Minho, seeing the frown that had started to appear in Minho’s face and sighed, shrugging with his shoulders and sending him a small smile. “Nevermind that.” 

Minho took a small peek of Jisung, before letting a small groan slip past his lips as he moved himself forward, causing Jisung to now fall down onto his back, a small squeal escaping the younger’s lips as he did, followed by a pout. 

Minho knew Jisung all too well, meaning that he also knew that he would start complaining in the next few seconds, so before he even had the chance to do so, Minho leaned himself down, hugged him tightly and buried his face in Jisung’s chest.

Jisung studied Minho’s face for a bit, his previous pout now being replaced with a soft and adoring smile, filled with love. 

“You’re such a baby sometimes, Minho.” 

Jisung chuckled softly, letting his hand wander through Minho’s hair and gently massaging the top of his head while doing so. 

“I also got you flowers by the way. A bouquet of yellow and blue roses to be exact.” 

Minho immediately looked up at him, a large smile spread on his face with his eyes sparkling. 

Jisung only smiled warmly at him, a hint of regret hidden inside of it. Minho made his heart jump in more ways than one, yet he also felt sorry. 

“I’m sorry, Min.” 

Minho stared at him for a few seconds, unknowing of what he meant until realization had hit him. He sat himself up and let a deep sigh out. 

“Is this about Hyunjin again? I told you before-” he started, but didn’t get to finish his sentence, Jisung being quick to interrupt him. 

“I know you say you don’t mind, but yet, I’m really sorry. I haven’t had too much time for you lately ever since we met him and I’m just.. I know it’s not right and I’m sorry about it..” 

Minho only frowned. “Jisung-”

“I know what you wanna say now, but please, please just let me apologize, okay? Trust me. It’s not that I don’t love you. I do, I really fucking do, but I just can’t stop myself from still loving him as well.” Jisung said, his voice starting to break, sobs muffled in between. “I tried, tried for years. But yet, I still am stuck and just one time seeing him was enough for me to fall for him again, even more than before. But, Minho, you’re so important to me and i’m so sorry if I hurt you in any way, I really don’t mean to, I really love you, Please, I promi-” 

Minho only sighed at Jisung and before the other other could react, he cupped his cheeks in his hands and gently pressed his lips on Jisung’s own. 

Despite Jisung always talking about how he doesn’t want a relationship without Hyunjin included in it, this hadn’t been the first kiss the two of them had shared, yet, it was somewhat different from the ones before. 

A sense of reassurement mixed in between, as if Minho had wanted to tell him that it’s okay, that he doesn’t need to apologize. It gave Jisung a warm and loving feeling, yet he could also feel the sadness that was mixed in it. 

Jisung had always loved the soft feeling of Minho’s lips on his own. What he however didn’t like, was the fact that he knew that slight feeling of sadness was his fault. 

After parting from each other, Jisung kept on staring into Minho’s eyes, Minho only letting out a small whine because of it.

“What is it, Sungie?” 

Jisung only frowned, letting himself fall forward back into Minho’s arms, burying his face into Minho’s neck. 

“It’s nothing, really. Let’s just watch a movie today, yeah? Just the two of us.” 

Jisung didn’t need to see the other’s face to know that Minho’s eyes lit up, as well as the corner of his lips turning upwards, forming a bright smile. You could practically hear him smiling while he was speaking.

“Sure, I’d like that.” 

[♡]

The sun had already been going down, not that it bothered Minho or Jisung, after all, they didn’t plan on going outside anymore either way. 

They both sat on the couch, watching a random movie, a blanket placed over the two of them, while Jisung was snuggling against Minho, his arm around Minho’s waist, while Minho had been letting his hand run through Jisung’s soft hair, placing small kisses on top of his head every now and then.

Jisung had only leaned himself more into Minho’s side even more whenever he did so.

Thinking back about it, the three of them had always sat close to each other as a child as well, watching movies while being snuggled under a large blanket barely big enough to fit the three of them. On other times, they even built a pillow fort, calling it their own ‘castle’. 

Back then as well, Jisung had always sat in the middle, Minho on his left and Hyunjin on his right. 

Maybe everything between Hyunjin and Minho had broken down the moment Jisung had to move away, maybe he was the connecting piece between the three of them, so maybe it was also his fault that Minho had never grown feelings towards Hyunjin. 

Or maybe it was just not meant to be. 

Maybe it wasn’t the right time either, either way, there was nothing Jisung could do about it. This was an issue between the two of them, nothing that had concerned him. 

As long as they got along fine, as long as Jisung could be with the two of them, he was contented with that. 

Jisung’s thoughts were soon to be interrupted by Minho’s sweet and calming voice whispering softly into his ear. 

“What are you thinking about?” 

A small shudder had overcome Jisung as soon as he had felt Minho’s breath close to his ear, deepening even further when Minho placed small kisses on his neck. 

“Hm?” Minho ‘asked’ Jisung, the tease in his tone as obvious as could be. 

Jisung’s breathing started to pick up, his cheeks a soft shade of red, as he smilingly pushed Minho away, causing the other to chuckle. 

“Stop teasing..” Jisung murmured while ruffing through his own hair, avoiding Minho’s stares. 

Minho’s hand was supporting his head, however not because he was bored in this case, but because he’d already gotten tired. A smirk widely spread across his face as he studied Jisung’s current expression.

“I’m not teasing though?” 

Jisung turned his head back towards Minho, his eyes stuck on his lips for a short while, before he shook his head. 

He absolutely hated how much control Minho had over him, how a simple whisper of him was enough to make him go crazy. 

Yet, he couldn’t let him notice that, so he tried his best to suppress it, not really wanting to give him more power over him than he already had anyway. 

“You know exactly what I mean, Lee Minho.” 

To be fair, Jisung had been aware that he would soon regret these words, Minho’s smirk only growing at him trying to act all tough, his head slightly tilted to the side.

“You know.. It’s kinda hot when you say my full name though~” 

Jisung started to cough heavily, his jaw fell and his eyes widened in awe. 

He just sat there in silence, debating if he should simply pretend that he hadn’t heard him say that, however, he also knew that Minho would repeat himself once again, making sure Jisung heard exactly what he said. 

It wasn’t long until Minho burst into laughter and ruffed through Jisung’s hair, making it an utter mess. 

“You’re so cute when you are flustered, I’m sorry.. I just can’t.” 

Jisung knew he shouldn’t have expected Minho to be completely serious, not if there was one thing Minho loved more than everything else, it was teasing him. Yet in that moment, that fact seemed to have completely slipped from his mind. 

Jisung sobbed, a frown on his face as he began throwing pillows after Minho, who simply continued to laugh, tears already forming in the corners of his eyes because of it. 

“Asshole.” Jisung whined, turning away from Minho. 

Minho laughingly wiped his tears away, before sending him a bright smile. 

“Your asshole.” 

[♡]

Hyunjin had always been at the dance studio a few minutes earlier than the others, enjoying the quiet time he got to himself as he cooled his mind off with starting a bit earlier than the others. 

So that had been the same thing he was doing right now, just with one small difference, no one ever bursted into a room while he’d been doing exactly that before. 

Hyunjin’s gaze slowly fell towards the door and to his surprise the person that stood there, being no one different than Minho. 

Minho and Hyunjin only stared at each other for a solid minute, before Minho averted his gaze and closed the door behind him. “Am I early?” 

Hyunjin only raised an eyebrow at him, an questioning look spreading across his face. “Early? Are you perhaps..” 

Minho just sent him a small nod. “..Yeah, taking dance classes.” 

Hyunjin sent him a small smile in return, trying his best to not appear too awkward around him, even though, considering that this was Minho, the one person he couldn’t quite get, made the whole thing way harder. 

“Yeah. We’re usually starting around ten minutes later. Usually no one’s here around this time.”

“But you’re here?” the older had replied almost immediately, Hyunjin only chuckling at that. “I’m an exception.” 

Minho only nodded, glaring at him for a few seconds before averting his gaze from him, which only confused Hyunjin even more. 

He really couldn’t figure out how Minho ticked, not at all. 

Only once their lessons had started, Hyunjin had realized how much of a good dancer Minho actually was, without any doubt, had Minho been an equal match to him, and that was a rare case in the class they were attending. 

Although their styles were different from each other. 

When their lesson had come to an end and everyone started packing their bags, Hyunjin gathered up all of his courage and went up to Minho to give him a bottle of water. 

“Here.” he said, trying his best to not sound as anxious as he truly was, especially not, since he didn’t want Minho to think he was some type of coward. 

Minho had only raised an eyebrow at him in response and suspiciously looked at the bottle for a while, before finally taking it and muttering his thanks. 

After taking a huge sip from it, he gave the bottle back to Hyunjin, took his bag and left the room, obviously trying his utmost to get away from Hyunjin as fast as possible. 

Hyunjin however felt rather stubborn and persistent, not letting him get away that easily, he quickly followed him and tried to talk about random topics with him. The only thing he had found out from the whole conversation, which was more like Hyunjin talking and Minho only replying with yes or no and rarely ever using sentences, was the fact that Minho apparently was fond of cats and loved to dance. 

Hyunjin only growled in frustration upon getting rejected so blatantly from Minho. 

When they had left the building, Hyunjin was met with another familiar person.

Jisung.

Once Minho’s eyes had met those of Jisung’s, he had turned almost into a completely different person, a wide smile now on his face, as he ran up to his side, pouting cutely at him. “What are you doing heree..” 

Jisung only chuckled at him, before patting his head once. “Picking you up.” 

Minho only huffed in satisfaction at that, as Jisung’s gaze slowly met that of Hyunjin who kept staring at the two, a hint of jealousy mixed in his gaze. 

Jisung only smiled fondly at Hyunjin, while intertwining his hand with Minho’s. “Hyunjin? You’re dancing here too?” 

Hyunjin only rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, a shy smile plastered onto his face. “Yeah..” 

Jisung only giggled at Hyunjin acting all shy, before grinning a little. “We’ll see each other quite often around then for sure.” 

Minho only whined, pulling on Jisung’s arm a little. “Jisung, let’s go home already.” 

Jisung rolled his eyes a little at him, winking towards Hyunjin once. “Well. We’re leaving now, see you around?” 

Hyunjin only nodded at him, which Jisung responded to with a fond smile, as they parted ways. 

Jisung sighed a bit once he and Minho had been alone. “Minho.. Do you really despise him that much?”

Minho could only frown at his question, being way too tired for this kind of discussion right now. “I don’t hate him.” 

Jisung looked at him in suspicion, but decided to drop the topic after all, seeing how Minho really didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk about it right now. “Is that so? Fine.” 

“Mhm.” Minho had only mumbled as they made their way back towards the hotel. 

The following dance lessons always went the same way, Minho always arriving a bit earlier, an awkward silence surrounding the two of them. Hyunjin keeping on trying to hold a conversation with Minho, while the older just showed plain disinterest in him. 

Hyunjin couldn’t say that it didn’t frustrate him, but even if it took time, he gradually got to at least know a bit more of Minho, and he was more than content with that for now. 

[♡]

Hyunjin sighed. On one side he had been glad that Jisung and Minho hadn’t appeared near him in days, on the other hand however, he also felt sad about it. The only thing he had been certain about, was that Jisung for sure, had been messing with his head.

Once he had left the small flower shop as his shift had come to an end, he was met with the profile of someone familiar to him, Minho to be exact. 

He stood there in awe, not having expected him to be there in the slightest. Hyunjin didn’t know what to say or even how to react, especially since it seemed as if Minho had been waiting for someone specific. 

“Minho?” 

Minho sighed softly, turning towards Hyunjin, before practically forcing himself to smile at him. 

“Let’s have a talk, Hyunjin.” 

Even though they even had met without Jisung before, he was still shaken by Minho. He was way too intimidating for his liking, yet there also was something intriguing about him and something that had made Hyunjin interested in him. 

Hyunjin only nodded at his request, before he let Minho lead them into the park, both of them sitting down on one of the empty benches standing there. 

Hyunjin couldn’t help himself but feel nervous alone from Minho’s presence, his feet were tapping the ground, an all too awkward smile plastered onto his face as he turned towards Minho. 

“So, what did you want to talk about?” he said with a more quiet tone than his usual one, almost like a mumble instead. 

Minho slowly turned to him, looking him right in the eye, which for Hyunjin felt as if he had just pierced right through his soul. 

“To be honest” Minho had finally started. “I don’t get what Jisungie sees in you.” 

Hyunjin’s jaw fell at that, a sharp pain getting sent right through his chest. In that moment, he had felt a mixture of sadness and anger. Minho only had known him for a few days, so who was he to judge him?

He forced himself to calm down, swallowing a huge knot in his throat down.

“What do you..” he started off, but instead got interrupted by Minho continuing his speech.

“You’re dense, for once.” Minho sighed, pausing for a few seconds before going on. “Naive, you used to always hurt yourself as well, always stumbled over your own feet and were a huge crybaby. I just don’t get it.” 

Hyunjin clenched his fists tightly, trying his best to stay calm, when suddenly he’d grown confused, as to how Minho even knew of this. 

Until it had clicked. 

And once it did, Hyunjin’s eyes widened in shock, his jaw dropping even more, before he’d swallowed some of the spit that had accumulated inside of his mouth down. 

“Minho and Jisung.. of course.. are you..?” 

A frown now left Minho’s mouth as he clasped his hands behind his head, shrugging his shoulders while doing so. 

“Took you long enough. Yeah, That’s me and that Jisung you seem so fond of, is also the same Jisung you know from your childhood.”

It was way too much for Hyunjin to take in at once. He didn’t know how to feel, how to react or even what to think. It was overwhelming. 

“Jisungie told me not to tell you this, but I’m tired of this cat mouse play, it’s seriously starting to piss me off. I don’t care what you do with that information, but at least you know now. That’s all I wanted from you as well.” 

Minho glanced at Hyunjin for a few more minutes, giving him time to get used to his new gathered information before sighing and standing up. “That’s really all I wanted to say.” 

The older man stretched himself once more before waving at him and saying his goodbye’s. 

Hyunjin’s eyes could only follow Minho’s figurine, unsure of what to say, still being completely overwhelmed. 

For a second he had debated running after him, asking him a thousand of questions even, but his mind couldn’t comprehend this fast and it didn’t seem as if Minho wanted to bother with him either.

So he simply sat there like a lost child that didn’t know what to do, all alone and lost in his own world. 

[♡]

Jisung hadn’t expected Hyunjin to call him and neither had he expected to get an invitation straight to Hyunjin’s apartment either. 

He wasn’t complaining, not at all, but he had an icky feeling about the entire situation, unsure of what it was, yet knowing that something was off. 

While they were phone calling, it had almost sounded as if Hyunjin had been crying, although Jisung didn’t quite understand why or what had been going on, and how would he?

A thousand of questions popped into Jisung’s head all at once, yet he had no answer to even a single one of them, he wasn’t even certain if he would get an answer to them. 

What he found the most strange about this entire situation, was that Hyunjin had called him out of everyone, it didn’t made sense to him. 

Once he had arrived at Hyunjin’s apartment complex, it didn’t take much longer than a few seconds for Hyunjin to open the door and embrace Jisung into a tight hug.

Of course Jisung had gotten startled, getting immediately pulled into a hug all of a sudden. He stood there for a while in complete shock, before finally lifting his arms and softly patting Hyunjin’s back, worry now arising inside of him. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Hyunjin had tired his best to drown out his own sobs, to keep Jisung from noticing that he had been crying, little did he knew that Jisung knew immediately, having done the same all those years as a way of not showing weakness, he’d grown used to these kind of habits. 

Hyunjin only clinged onto Jisung’s back, hiding his face in the crook of Jisung’s neck as his tears had been wetting the hood of the younger’s jacket. 

“I-Im sorry.” he stuttered in between sobs. 

Jisung couldn’t understand a single word and their meaning, all he did was mutter soft comforting words into Hyunjin’s ear, all while moving one of his hands up to stroke Hyunjin’s head.

“Hey, let’s get inside first, okay? It’s okay, don’t worry, I got you.” 

Hyunjin only gave him a small nod in response, before letting go of him and rubbing his eyes with his sweater paws. Jisung only smiled gently at him, taking Hyunjin’s hand and pulling him inside the apartment alongside him. 

He quickly closed the door shut, going back to Hyunjin’s side and giving him a small pat on the back.

“Alright. I don’t know where to go, because I never have been here before so you need to lead me now.” 

Yet another silent nod was once again all he got in response from Hyunjin, as the taller had led him through the hallway and into the living room. Jisung only sighed softly and carefully pushed him down onto the couch, crouching down in front of him, as one of Jisung’s hands made their way to Hyunjin’s face, gently wiping the tears on his cheeks away with his thumb. 

Hyunjin’s eyes were still clouded from all of his tears, his sobs still consistent, yet he had been trying his best to speak in a manner that was clear enough to understand, all solely to tell Jisung what was wrong. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Jisung’s panic kept on growing as soon as Hyunjin had apologized, especially since the older still didn’t seem to be able to stop the tears from falling down. Jisung softly hushed him down in an attempt to calm him down as he gently rubbed circles on top of one of his thighs, trying to reassure him that everything was okay. 

“It’s really fine. I don’t even know what you’re apologizing for, but please just calm down first, okay?” Jisung had tried his best to reassure him over and over again, he kept on repeating himself and kept on telling him that he was doing great and that he was going to be fine. 

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you any sooner..” 

As soon as Hyunjin had forced these words to come out of his mouth, Jisung’s hand came to an abrupt halt, his eyes now focused on Hyunjin’s. If Jisung would have looked into the mirror right in this moment, he could have seen just how shocked he seemed to be. 

“How did you..?” 

Hyunjin remained silent, not a single word coming from him, Jisung however, had a rough idea on how he could have had found out. 

If Hyunjin wouldn’t have been such a mess right now, there would have been a thousand of other possibilities, however seeing how destroyed the other was right now, there was no way he had found out on his own. 

And Jisung knew exactly which certain someone had most likely told him. A small sigh slipping past his lips as soon as he’d realized that, he just knew it was Minho, knew that Minho couldn’t deal with their cat and mouse play and would eventually just spill the beans. What he however didn’t expect, was that it was going to happen this soon. 

Jisung didn’t even have the time to prepare himself for it. 

If only Minho had warned him about his reckless plans. 

Then again, this was Minho they were talking about.

“Hyunjin” Jisung finally started, his voice as soft and warm as can be. “I’m not mad or anything. Moreover, I should be the one being sorry, so please stop crying, okay?” 

Hyunjin simply kept on crying, rubbings his cheeks and eyes dry every few minutes. Jisung only frowned at him, before he stood up and engulfed him into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone. I’m sorry for not being able to be by your side, okay? I promise, I’ll make it up, I change everything, so please, please don’t cry.” 

Hyunjin only sniffed, as he hid his face in Jisung’s jacket, his sobs starting to drown out, small muffled apologies still audible from him every now and then. 

Jisung only smiled as he kept on letting his fingers run through Hyunjin’s hair, whispering sweet nothings into his ear and keeping on reassuring him that everything was okay.

[♡]

Originally Minho had been excited as soon as the door had clicked, because for him, it meant that Jisung had come back home and that they would be spending some time together, however, little did he know that Jisung wasn’t exactly in the best mood right now. 

Alone that fact that Jisung’s greeting had almost been inaudible, his voice filled with a depressing undertone was enough for Minho to realize, that they probably had to push their quality time together aside. 

He let out a short and soft whine before heading over to Jisung, concern distinguishable in his eyes, as he watched Jisung get out of his jacket and shoes. 

“Are you okay?” 

Minho hadn’t expected Jisung to simply scoff at him in response at all.

“Why are you out of all people acting concerned.. This is sort of your fault as well, you know.” 

Minho had only raised an eyebrow before it finally made sense as to why Jisung had seemed down. He was at Hyunjin’s, Minho was certain of that. 

Minho would have been lying if he said that his heart didn’t ache at the thought of it, but he knew from beginning on that this was what he had to deal with, Jisung had warned him about it, and he said he was willing to go through it, which wasn’t a lie. 

“Jisung, I didn’t mean to hurt any of you two, I just wanted to help-” 

Another scoff.

“Help how? With telling him that we’re his childhood friends that abandoned him years ago?” 

There wasn’t any valid response Minho could have told in return, no matter the fact that he had only meant to help so that things would finally be moving forward faster, he knew that he had approached this whole thing completely wrong and he also knew that he’d probably hurt Hyunjin in the progress, and seeing how down Jisung seemed to be, Hyunjin wasn’t the only one he had hurt. 

“Look. It wasn’t the wisest approach from my side, I admit that, but-” 

Jisung only stared at him for a split second, before hurriedly walking over to him and punching him against the chest. 

Minho had prepared himself for the worst, to the point of having had his eyes squinted, however, once the punch had gone through, Minho realized just how vulnerable Jisung had been right in this moment. He had been shaking and there wasn’t an ounce of power behind it either. 

He carefully took Jisung’s hand into his own, gulping a knot inside of his throat down.

“Jisung, you’re shaking..” 

Minho carefully let his other hand go up to Jisung’s chin to gently lift it up, not expecting Jisung’s hurt expression to be as bad as it is, and neither having expected for Jisung to cry. 

Minho felt guilty, blamed himself for the pain Jisung was feeling right now, a sharp pang in his heart at the thought of him being the one responsible for this whole mess. 

“Sungie, I’m sorry.. Please, calm down first, okay?” 

Jisung roughly shook Minho’s hands off, tears dropping down his cheek one after another, as he clenched his fists tightly together. 

“You don’t understand, Minho. He was crying, he told me how fucking alone he felt, how he had no one to rely on, for fucking years, Minho. Years!” 

Minho would have prefered to not know that, especially not since it only caused his feeling of guilt to deepen even more, almost to a point where it would become unbearable. 

“Jisung, This isn’t your fault..” 

Jisung hit his arm once again, trying his utmost to use more force this time. 

“Where isn’t it my fault? If I tried harder, If I just thought about maybe i don’t know, living with my aunt or anyone, this wouldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t have had to suffer this much, Minho. Why don’t you understand? This is **_my_ **fault.” 

Minho couldn’t take it anymore, he couldn’t take Jisung continuing to trash himself down anymore. It wasn’t his fault, not even in the slightest, they were children, there was nothing either of them could have done and Minho knew that Jisung was aware of that as well, but he also knew that he wasn’t thinking rationally right now. 

He quickly grabbed both of Jisung’s wrists and pulled the younger into a tight hug. Jisung had tried his best to resist at the beginning, struggling to get out of Minho’s grip, but Minho wouldn’t let him break free, until Jisung finally gave in, hands clenched into the fabric of Minho’s shirt. 

Minho only sighed in relief and placed a small kiss on his forehead. 

“This isn’t your fault in the slightest, Sungie. You were a child, you couldn’t have done anything, okay? What matters is that you’re here now, that you try to fix things. Please, please stop torturing yourself like this, I can’t take it.” 

“B-But..” Jisung cried out, trying to convince Minho that it was his fault and ignoring everything else. 

“No, Sungie. No buts. It's not your fault, not in the slightest.” 

Minho kept on placing small kisses on top of Jisung’s head. He kept on telling him that he was doing great and how proud Minho was of him. 

All that had echoed through the room, had been Minho’s soft words that tried to reassure Jisung, as well as Jisung’s sobs that had finally started to suffocate.

When Jisung had finally calmed down to the point where he at least didn’t bawl his eyes out, he pushed himself slightly away from Minho, rubbing the tears off his face. 

“Minho. Do me a favour, please. Let’s talk this out, all three of us. This is the only thing I ask of you..” 

If Minho was being honest, he couldn’t care less whether things were alright between Hyunjin and him, all he needed to be happy, was for things to be okay between him and Jisung. But for Jisung’s sake, he was willing to do it, if it meant, that it would bring a smile back onto his face, then he would do it. 

“Fine.” 

And the way Jisung’s eyes lit up as soon as he said that, made everything worth it. 

[♡]

Even though Minho had agreed on trying to solve things between them, he didn’t necessarily want, or more like need to fix anything. He never had the intention of falling for Hyunjin in first place and neither had been mad at him or anything like that, especially not since Hyunjin hadn’t done anything wrong. 

For a short while all three of them awkwardly sat in Hyunjin’s living room in utter silence, no one knowing how to start or what to even say, until Jisung eventually broke the silence. 

“Does anyone want to..” 

Minho only huffed out a deep and long sigh. 

“This is stupid. There isn’t even anything to fix. Neither of us really have done anything wrong, have we? We are all just awkward with each other because we haven’t seen each other for years. That’s all. It wasn’t Jisung’s choice to move away and Hyunjin couldn’t do anything about it either. The only one who probably did something wrong was I, but to be fair, I’m doing well with the choices I did in the past.” 

Hyunjin only swallowed down a knot in his throat, because of how straightforward Minho was, while Jisung on the other hand nervously rubbed the back of his neck. 

“That’s.. straightforward.” 

Minho only scoffed at Hyunjin’s response. 

“Why should I talk around anything? We’re here to apparently solve things but yet here we are, sitting in complete silence. Why even bother then?” 

Minho let out yet another sigh, by now he had already lost count of how many times he had sighed just in these few minutes.

“Besides, I told you. I don’t love Hyunjin, I’m sorry for that, really. I cherish you as a friend, but that is all I can see happening. That doesn’t mean I don’t like you and it doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to start anything with Jisung either, but it’s just, you know.” 

Jisung had only let a small squeal out at him, before glancing over to Hyunjin, which obviously had a kind of hurt expression on his face, but at the same time, it didn’t seem to come off as surprising to him.

“I know. I expected this. To be honest, I love the two of you and even if it’s stupid, but being apart just deepened my love for you two, I realized that when you two were away all those years. But I’m scared, you know? I’m scared of getting left behind again.” 

“You don’t need to be scared about that anymore, Hyunjin…” Jisung had tried his best to sound reassuring to him, but he knew that fears simply don’t go away that easily. 

Minho on the other hand, was way harsher than Jisung, only scoffing at him in response.

“This is stupid. If we, no, if **he** planned on leaving you behind again, why would we bother coming here to fix things?” 

Hyunjin couldn’t find an answer to his question, the only thing he fully knew was, that this conversation wasn’t going too well. He kept on staring down at the floor, his hands intertwined as he bit down onto his under lip, causing it to bleed a little. 

Jisung’s eyes kept on switching between focusing on Hyunjin and focusing on Minho, he growled, standing up and walking over to them, engulfing both of them into a hug, which neither of them had expected. 

“This is stupid. We won’t get nowhere like this, we’ll just keep on arguing if we go on like this.” he sighed out. “You both are important to me, so so much and I don’t want to lose either of you. So please.. Why don’t we just, at least try to make this work out somehow?” 

Jisung backed off from the hug, taking one of Hyunjin’s hands and one of Minho’s hands in his own, just like Hyunjin had done it back when they had been children. 

“Please?”

Hyunjin hesistantly glanced over to Minho, almost being certain that Minho wouldn’t agree to it. 

Minho however only frowned at Jisung, his expression starting to soften more and more. 

“I told you before, I’ll do what you ask of me. I love you, Sungie, so if that’s the decision you have come to, then i’m in. At least i can try.” 

Jisung smiled at him, he loved how Minho always understood him and supported his decision unconditionally, yet it also had made him kind of sad, that he never entirely looked out for himself. 

Hyunjin on the other hand, was hesitating. 

“Hyunjin, what about you?” 

Now it was Hyunjin’s turn to growl. He didn’t want to lose them, at least, not like this. And if possible, he never wanted to lose them ever again. 

“Fine. Let’s try.” 

Jisung smiled his usual warm smile, which brightness equaled those of the sun. His eyes sparkling alongside it, before he started to giggle, which had gained him quite a decent amount of weird stares from the two other men. 

“I love you two, really, I love you so much. Thank you..” 

Before the two of them had even gotten the chance to answer him, he had already thrown them both onto the couch, engulfing them yet another time into a tight hug and kissing their whole faces. 

Laughter and giggles were echoing through the room, while all three of them despite frowning not too long ago, were now wearing bright smiles onto their faces.

[♡]

_Three years later_

Hyunjin could only whine as he stood alone in front of the cinema, waiting for his two boyfriends to arrive, a small groan escaping from his lips. 

“I should have known they would be late…” 

From the distance, Hyunjin could finally at least make out their silhouettes by now, Minho was dragging Jisung along with him, whining slightly while doing so. 

“It’s your fault we are late now!” 

Jisung had only pouted at him in response, as a matter of fact, it was an attempt to keep Minho from getting upset with him. 

“It’s not my fault I couldn’t find my belt!” 

Minho only whined even more at him.

“That’s why I told you yesterday to take out the stuff you wanna wear beforehand!” 

“I didn’t want your cats to piss on my clothes, okay?” Jisung hissed at him in return, being slightly petty now. 

Hyunjin only watched the two of them argue in amusement as they finally reached him. 

Minho only gasped and frowned at Jisung.

“My cats never did that before, you damn liar!” 

Jisung scoffed at him and soon after imitated him in a mockingly way.

“My CaTs NeVeR dId ThAt BeFoRe, YoU dAmN lIaR!” 

Minho’s eyebrows started to furrow themselves, his frown deepening, as he tried his best to keep his patience in check. 

“Someone stop me before I beat him.” 

Jisung only stuck his tongue out at him, quickly hiding behind Hyunjin after doing so. 

Hyunjin could only laugh at the two behaving like children. 

Honestly, he wouldn’t have ever considered being able to call the two of them his boyfriends, especially not since Minho had made it very clear that he had no interest whatsoever in him. 

And that also had been the case for the majority of the time, the two of them only recently having started to date as well. 

Hyunjin’s love towards Minho had never faded, despite him keeping on pushing Hyunjin away and rejecting him quite blatantly. 

Even if it took time, the two still found each other in the end.

Hyunjin just ruffed through his own hair before chuckling and taking both their hands, pulling them inside.

“Can you two pause your fighting? We’re late.” 

Minho and Jisung had exchanged a few more glances clearly showing the other that they are ready to fight at any time, but decided to drop it for Hyunjin after all. 

By now the three of them had been used to people staring at them in a weird way whenever they held hands, they couldn’t avoid getting stared at and to be honest they already were at a point where they didn’t really care anymore either. 

While they were sitting in the hall just as the movie was about to start, Hyunjin’s two childish boyfriends kept on tackling each other with kisses. 

Minho and Jisung kept on stealing popcorn from each other, and Hyunjin had just let the children behave like children, even though it was ironic considering he wasn’t even the oldest of the couple of three. 

While Minho and Jisung kept on bickering with each other, Hyunjin kept on apologizing and bowing to the other people that had sent them annoying glances all too many times because of how loud the two had been. 

Despite all of this, Hyunjin had fun, a smile constantly placed on his lips. 

He was happy about how everything had turned out in the end. 

When they first had started to try things out between them, Minho still having refused to accept Hyunjin, it wasn’t easy. 

There were a lot of minor but also major fights between them, a lot of arguing and a lot of tears had been shed as well. 

Yet somehow everything turned out just fine, and Hyunjin couldn’t be more happy about that. 

Now he couldn’t imagine his life without them anymore, even though he already had to deal with being alone years before, he had now gotten used to having two noisy brats at his side. 

And he didn’t had to worry about it anymore either, because Minho and Jisung sure didn’t debate on leaving him, they were just as happy and satisfied as he was. 

When they had left the cinema and were about to go for dinner, Jisung suddenly started to giggle. 

“You know, it’s kinda funny actually.”

Minho and Hyunjin exchanged a few glances before both looked over to Jisung, confusion clearly spread across their faces. Jisung only held his arm out to the two of them, the clover bracelet he was still wearing hanging firmly around his wrist.

“We didn’t even need this to find each other.” 

Minho and Hyunjin once again exchanged a few glances, before the two of them sighed in defeat, holding their wrists next to Jisung’s, both of them still wearing their bracelets as well.

Hyunjin just chuckled.

“True. But who knows, maybe it brought us back together after all, it’s a clover-leaf.” 

Minho had really tried his best to keep himself from bursting into laughter at that.

“You believe in that?” 

Now Hyunjin was the one pouting instead, ready to pick a fight with Minho if necessary.

“Why can’t I!” 

“You’re so cute, Hyunjin.” was all Minho said in response, a smirk spread on his face. 

Hyunjin just growled, while Jisung giggled at them. 

“Well. It doesn’t really matter, does it? After all we found each other, so this is for the best.” 

Hyunjin just let a long sigh out, before smiling and grabbing both of their hands, pulling them along.

“True. But now let’s get going, I’m starving.” 

And with that, Minho and Jisung looked at each other, both laughing and following Hyunjin obediently.


End file.
